


The Precocious Healer

by tehhumi



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Injury, Sirion, Third Kinslaying aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 07:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18191657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehhumi/pseuds/tehhumi
Summary: Elrond is the greatest healer in Middle Earth.After all, starting at age six gives you a lot of practice.





	The Precocious Healer

**Author's Note:**

> According to _Laws and Customs_ , elves' ability to heal diminishes when they take life, even hunting.

Elros's arm is broken. He was trying to escape - to find his mother, to get away to Balar, to be surrounded by anyone other than the people who murdered everyone he’s ever known - and fell off a horse. It was a six foot drop, far enough to break both bones in his lower arm when he threw it up to protect his head.

Maglor is the most practiced at field medicine - cavalry on Ard-galen are frequently days away from the nearest fortress with a healer. Maglor wraps Elros’s arm, and makes a splint and sling, but that’s the limit of what can be done. He says the break might take four months to heal, and longer before Elros can lift much.

Elros asks why they can’t just heal him, like their mother did with cuts and scrapes from playing on the rocky shore.

Maedhros answers, “Those who kill too many can no longer heal.”

It was going to be hard to reach Amon Ereb with two captive children in the first place, but they couldn’t just abandon the boys and hope someone arrived before they starved. A broken arm does not make leaving the children to fend for themselves better. It does make transportation even more difficult though, as Elros can’t hold on riding pillion even if he wouldn’t run away. A horse of his own is likewise out. Riding in front of someone will keep him from falling off, but the ride wouldn’t be smooth, and he’d be in pain with every pace.

The Feanorians don’t expect a flag of truce to be believed, even to return Elwing’s sons, and one of them being injured doesn’t help with that. Any Men they come across will not be able to heal Elros any more than the Feanorians can. The twins must go to Amon Ereb.

Maglor and Maedhros discuss the relative merits of numbing the arm or sedating the boy. With a numb arm, Elros would be able to sit enough to share someone’s horse, but he might use the arm and damage it further, and there’s the potential of addiction. Sedated, he won’t injure himself further or try to escape again, but he would have to be held or tied in place, and the dosage is harder to monitor and more dangerous if wrong.

Elrond overhears. He hears enough to know that it is becoming a lot of trouble to keep him and his brother alive and safe, more than expected. He knows that the last time the Kinslayers attacked, they took two princes and then abandoned them. He has to find some way to be worth keeping.

“I can heal him.”

“What?”

“I can heal him. I’ve watched Mom do it before. And I’m…” He isn’t sure how to say he’s not a murderer without offending the murderers and having them decide to murder him after all. “I can still heal people.”

It’s clear after a few minutes that Elrond doesn’t actually know how to channel his fëa. Maglor talks him through it slowly, first understanding your own spirit and then identifying the break, drawing on what he’s heard at dozens of sickbeds. Maedhros takes some men to loot the palace for any medical supplies available, including sedatives in case Elrond fails.

Elrond succeeds, but is dizzy from giving so much of his own energy. Elros’s arm doesn’t hurt, and the bones appears to be connected again, though it’s still too fragile to use much. Elros is in good enough shape to ride with someone, and worried enough about his brother he won’t try to run. This will do for now.

The Feanorians depart from Sirion.

That night they make camp, and Elrond heals Elros enough that he can ride without a sling (though still tandem, due to his small stature and inclination to escape) the next day.

When they stop again, Elrond asks if anyone else needs healing, as his brother is recovered.

Maedhros knows that it’s unfair to ask so much of a child, but on the other hand Aistanil has been bleeding from his belly for the past two days. If Elrond has the energy to spare, healing would be appreciated.

Elrond agrees, and Maedhros explains how muscle and skin connect on a healthy body and how ragged edges on a cut make healing more difficult.

Elrond does not throw up, and is very helpful to the Kinslayers.

No one drags him and Elros out into the forest and leaves them, not even after the last injury from Sirion is healed. He’s useful.


End file.
